Good zombies bring scary drug message before Take Back event

Thursday

Oct 24, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Kimberley Haaskhaas@fosters.com

DOVER — If you think zombies are scary, then you should check out the number of unused and expired medications in your drug cabinet.

That was the message of Dover Youth to Youth members as they took to the streets Wednesday. Dressed as zombies, they distributed information and answered questions about Saturday's upcoming prescription drug take back event sponsored by the Dover Police Department.

This initiative is important because medicines in home cabinets are highly susceptible to theft, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Surveys show one in five high school students in New Hampshire have used a prescription drug that was not prescribed to them, according to research by Y2Y members.

“Seventy percent of teens who abuse prescription drugs obtained the medications from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. The Take Back Day is being held to allow community members to dispose of their medications and remove the source of temptation from their home,” youth member Kylan Mastro read from a prepared statement during a rally on the front steps of City Hall before the second annual “Zombie Walk.”

Youth members Will Demers and Emma Foss joined him in reading the prepared statement.

Mastro said the safest place for people to keep their prescription drugs until they can be properly disposed of at a take back day is a bedroom or bathroom, but someplace out of reach so others cannot find them and use them for recreational purposes.

“Last year we were advertising lock boxes with four spaces where people can put their pills,” Demers added.

All three of the students have been in Y2Y for two years and are enrolled in seventh grade.

Dana Mitchell, Y2Y's prevention coordinator, said the zombie walk is in its second year.

“We were looking for a way to get people out for the drug take back and it fell during the Halloween season so that's how we came up with the idea,” Mitchell said.

This is the sixth national take back initiative Dover has participated in. The last five events have allowed authorities to collect 840 pounds of unused and unwanted prescription drugs.

Y2Y members would like to remind people that throwing away drugs allows abusers to retrieve them from the trash. Flushing them down the toilet causes damage to the environment.

“Medicines that are flushed can find their way into our drinking water supply,” Mastro said.

The take back day will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be held at the police station located at 46 Locust St. The event is free and anonymous.